6. HOW DOES A NUCLEAR
POWER PLANT WORKS?
A nuclear power plant works in a similar way as a
thermal power plant. The difference between the two is
in the fuel use to heat the water in the boiler(Steam
generator).
Inside a nuclear power station, energy is released by
nuclear fission in the core of the reactor.
1kg of Uranium-235 can produce as much energy as the
burning of 4500 tons of high grade variety of
Coal or 2000 tons of oil.
7. NUCLEAR REACTOR
A device in which nuclear chain reactions are
initiated, controlled, and sustained at a steady
rate.
Principle parts :
1) Core
2) Moderator
3) Control Rods
4) Coolants
5) Fuels
6) Radiation Sheets
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14. Nuclear Power Plant In India
Nuclear power is the fifth-largest
source of electricity in India
after coal, gas, hydroelectricity
and wind power. As of
March 2018, India has 22 nuclear
reactors in operation in 7
nuclear power plants, having a
total installed capacity of 6,780
MW. Nuclear power produced a
total of 35 TWh and supplied
3.22% of Indian electricity in
2017.7 more reactors are under
construction with a combined
generation capacity of 4,300
MW.
17. Generation of Reactors
I. Early prototype reactor . Majority of reactors are
closed.
II. Gen.2 : This type of reactors are running today in
India. Like a BWR,PWR.
III. Gen.3: Advanced LWRs. Time period of Gen 3 was
2000 – 2010.
IV. Gen.4: latest Technology in Reactor
VHTR(Very High Temperature Reactor)
MSR(Molten Salt Reactor)
SWCR(Supercritical Water Cooled Reactor)
18. Generation of Rector
IV : Gen.4: GCFR(Gas Cooled Fast Reactor)
SCFR(Sodium Cooled Fast Reactor)
LCFR(Lead Cooled Fast Reactor)
19.
20. Generation IV Reactor
VHTR(Very High Temperature Reactor)
Characteristics
• He(helium) coolent
• >900c outlet temperature
• 250 Mwe
• coated partical fuel in either pebble bed or
prismatic fuel
Benefits
• Hydrogen production
•Process heat applications
• High degree of passive safety
• High thermal efficiency option
21. Generation IV Reactor
MSR(Molten Salt Reactor)
Characteristics
•Fuel is liquid fluorides of U and Pu
with Li, Be, Na and other fluorides
•700-800C outlet temperature
• 1000 Mwe
• low pressure(<0.5 MPa)
Benefits
• Waste minimization
• Avoids fuel development
•Proliferation resistance through low
fissile material inventory
22. Generation IV Reactor
SWCR(Supercritical Water Cooled Reactor)
Characteristics
• Water coolent above supercritical conditions
(374C, 22.1 Mpa)
• 510-625C outlet temperature
• 1500 Mwe
• pressure tube or pressure vessel options
• Simplified balance of plant
Benefits
• Efficiency near 45% with excellent economics
• Configurable as a fast or thermal spectrum core
23. Generation IV Reactor
GCFR(Gas Cooled Fast Reactor)
Characteristics
• He coolent
•850C outlet temperature
•Direct gas turbine cycle or super critical CO2
cycle with optional combined cycles
• 2400 MWe / 1100 MWe
•Several fuel options
carbide in plates or pins
Nitride
Oxide
Benefits
• High efficiency
•Waste minimization and efficiency use of
uranium resources
24. Generation IV Reactor
SCFR(Sodium Cooled Fast Reactor)
Characteristics
• sodium coolant
• 550c outlet temprature
•600-1500MWe intermediate size
• 300-600MWe small module option
• metal fuel with Pyroprcocessing or MoX
fuel with advanced aqueous sepration.
Benefits
• high thermal efficiency
• consumption of LWR actinides
•Efficient fissile material generation.
25. Generation IV Reactor
LCFR(Lead Cooled Fast Reactor)
Characteristics
• Pb or Pb/Bi coolent
• 550c to 800c outlet temperature
• Small transportable system 50 150 Mwe, and
•Larger station 300-1200 Mwe
•15-30 year core life option
Benefits
• Distributed electricity generation
•Hydrogen and potable water
• Replaceable core for regional fuel processing
•High degree of passive safety
•Proliferation resistance through long life core
26. EFFICIENCY OF NUCLEAR POWER
PLANT
The efficiency of a nuclear power plant is determined similarly
to other heat engines since technically the plant is a large heat
engine. The amount of electric power produced for each unit
of thermal power gives the plant its thermal efficiency, and due
to the second law of thermodynamics there is an upper limit to
how efficient these plants can be.
Typical nuclear power plant achieve efficiencies around 33-
37%, comparable to fossil fueled power plant. Higher
temperature and more morden designs like the generation IV
nuclear reactor could potentially reach above 45% efficiency.
27. How to improve the efficiency of
nuclear power plant
various liquid metal cooled fast reactors uses liquid sodium, lead, or
lead-bismuth metals as the coolant and dispense with moderating the
neutrons altogether.
the molten salt reactors use various ionic salts of fluoride with lithium,
beryllium, sodium, ruthenium, zirconium, etc as the coolant and
moderate neutrons with graphite.
molten salt fast reactors use ionic salts of chloride and moderate the
neutrons.
All of these reactor types can generate much hotter coolants than
pressurized water reactors do. With the hotter coolant, one can run a
conventional super critical steam turbine system with thermodynamic
efficiency approaching 50%. This uses less fuel and less cooling water.
It’s also potentially safer to separate the reactor coolant function from
the power generation system so that each system (reactor cooling and
electrical power generation) can be optimized separately.
28. ADVANTAGES OF POWER PLANT
The power plant is more economical compared with thermal in
areas where coal field is far away.
There is no problem of transportation, storage and handling and
ash handling as in thermal power plant.
Man power required for the operation of nuclear power plant is
less therefore the cost of civil construction.
Nuclear plant occupies less space than thermal power plant,
which reduces the cost of civil construction.
The capital cost in structural materials, piping and storage are
less than thermal plants of the same capacity.
29. DISADVANTAGES OF POWER PLANT
Danger of nuclear radiation.
Problem of disposing the radioactive waste materials.
It has to be operated a full load throughout for good
efficiency.
Capital cost of small size plants is very high.
Uranium is naturally unstable element so special
precaution s must be taken during the
mining,transportation and storing of the uranium.
30.
31. CONCLUSION
Nuclear technology has progressed in the part 60 or so
years. The growth of nuclear power in asian countries and
the proliferation of asian suppliers of nuclear technology
have been immense.it doesn’t use large amount of fossil
fuels.with the use of nuclear power plant emmision of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is less and contributing
less to climating change.